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Today, consumers dream of convenience — they gravitate toward online shopping to bring everything they need right to their fingertips.

And today, technology is making business easier than ever — from Amazon Dash buttons that replenish laundry detergent, to Domino’s pizza drones testing home delivery, to Google voice assistants that reschedule dentist visits.

But will technology remove human interaction from the business-consumer relationship? Clearly not — because recent trends tell a very different story. There are more inbound calls and messages coming into businesses than ever before. In 2018, mobile search will drive 73 billion calls to enterprises, as opposed to just 30 billion in 2013. And there is a rising demand for texting to businesses — 85% of consumers said they would want to exchange SMS messages with a business.

Why? People still need people to handle complex problems and makedifficult decisions.

There’s a level of processing for human problems and situations that a machine can’t compute. For things like complex questions, urgent requests or troubleshooting, people want people. And those consumers that call — and now text — are often your best customers. They convert in higher percentages, spend more money and share straight-from-the-source insights about your business.

Win Customer Loyalty Through Conversation and Convenience

That’s why today, there’s enduring value in Toll-Free Numbers. They are the recognized direct link to businesses, at a time when consumer-to-business interaction is increasingly valuable. They’re integral to better sales, support and intelligence. They improve marketing and call center analytics. And, they’re capable of texting, opening consumers and businesses to a more modern form of direct connection.

In the following pages, you’ll learn:

Here’s your guide to learning how Toll-Free Numbers can do more for your business.

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How Toll-Free Texting Attracts New Customers and Sweetens Relationships

How Toll-Free Calls Generate Big Sales from Your Best Customers

How Toll-Free Numbers Serve UpBusiness Intelligence

Texting enables your business to grow sales, lower costs and reach elusive millennials — and Toll-Free Numbers are by far the best numbers to support person-to-person text messaging.

There are a few simple steps that you can take to increase your business intelligence value — using Toll-Free Numbers to generate responses, track campaign success and elicit deep customer insights.

Phone calls are 10 times more likely to convert into revenue than web clicks — and Toll-Free Numbers encourage your customers to get in touch when they’re ready to spend.

Talk can be the most powerful communications channel in the path to purchase. When customers dial your business number, they’re often at the moment of highest interest, empowering you to connect with your best leads in real time. Research has shown that consumers typically seek a human connection when they want to improve their purchase experience, especially for high-consideration, expensive or technical products.

Search Leads to Calls, Which Leads to Sales

The need for a little personalized magic is already driving consumers to their phones — we can see that in 2018, mobile search will drive 73 billion calls to enterprises, as opposed to just 30 billion in 2013. And 61% of mobile searchers say that click-to-call is most important during the purchase phase of shopping (INVOCA).

Marchex and Forrester Consulting recently conducted a study that confirmed that customers who placed a phone call to a business converted an average of 30% faster. They also found those who placed calls also spent an average of 28% more money than those who didn’t; consumers who initiated a phone call also showed higher retention rates. And the incoming generation of consumers — Gen Z — are the most likely to click-to-call a business after an online search.

Make Your Brand Reachable with a Toll-Free Number

Placing a Toll-Free Number as your main point of contact is like opening the door to your brand’s storefront. A visible entry into your company makes your service as approachable as possible. It’s a simple and powerful means of converting impressions into contacts. What’s more, there is a rising demand for texting to businesses — if 85% of consumers said they would want to exchange text messages with a business, then you should make your text enabled number as prominent as possible.

Conversations Drive Conversions

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These consumers all had ambitious goals in their sights, and all it took was one call to a Toll-Free Numberto get them connected to the right people at the right place to make their dreams come true.

Dream Seekers

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NameNatalie

OccupationTravel blogger

DreamThree-week trip to the

Maldives

FoundMinneola Weathersafe

Supplies

NameJess

OccupationFashion designer

DreamFirst-ever all-organic

scrubs line for doctors

FoundLisle Weavers and

Sourcing

NameMark

OccupationFull-time Dad

DreamBaby math

genius

FoundSmartBoy Toys Tools

NameMargie

OccupationBusiness owner

DreamTop 10 entrepreneurs

over 70

FoundFlyCoin Bookkeeping

NameJoe (and Muffins)

OccupationFood truck operator

DreamDelicious pet and

human friendly treats

FoundTake Meowt Tonight

Americans today are text-happy, sending six billion text messages per day (One Reach). And they’re more reliant on their phones than ever — four out of five consumers won’t leave home without it.

When people text, it’s usually because they want to get a message across discretely and quickly. So, when Toll-Free Numbers are text-enabled, they offer a powerful new touchpoint for customers on the go. By making a Toll-Free Number available for your customers to text, you give consumers a simple, unobtrusive way to start a conversation with your brand, and studies have shown this can lead to a 265% increase in engagement (GeoMoment).

Consumers have made clear their preference for texting businesses — 85% of people said they prefer to text with a live customer support agent instead of calling or emailing (AT&T), and 75% of people said they would find texting as a better alternative to waiting on hold (Somos, Inc.).

There are many reasons consumers want to be able to text abusiness, including:

• Asking questions about a product or a service• Placing or refilling an order• Checking balances or due dates• Finding store locations• Making or confirming reservations• Getting updates on order statuses

Texting Opens a NewWorld of Possibilities

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These consumers found themselves in a tight spot with no time to talk, but when they could text with a business that could help,it turned a normal conversation into an opportunity for rapid heroism.

Saved by the Text Tone

NameJulia

One hour ago...She walked into a

12-person meeting with only 11 presentation

copies.

58 minutes ago...She covertly texted the

PDF to a courier printing service.

2 minutes ago...She slipped out during the

coffee break and got the missing copy of

her presentation.

NameCraig

One hour ago...His rental car broke down between sales meetings without a gas station or

town line in sight.

58 minutes ago...He dropped a pin at his

location and a car was on its way.

2 minutes ago...He was on the road again

and back to business.

NameMarcus

One hour ago...He boarded his flight to NYC without any plans.

58 minutes ago...He texted his travel agent with his arrival time and

interests before he had to switch off his phone

for takeoff.

2 minutes ago...When he touched

ground, everything was in motion for a perfect

day in NYC.

NameStephanie

One hour ago...She realized her

daughter’s costume was a mess hours before

opening night.

58 minutes ago...She rebooked her

appointment with her accountant for the next

available time.

2 minutes ago...Her daughter made her

debut with the best homemade costume.

NameHank

One hour ago...His sink unleashed a small

pool into his kitchen — two hours before his date

is scheduled to arrive.

58 minutes ago...He texted his plumber for

a video demonstration.

2 minutes ago...He fixed the leak and had

time to change into fresh clothes.

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Five Ways to Please a Crowd

Attracts Millennials. Text messaging also brings in big wins for businesses targeting the millennial demographic. According to a Harris Poll, 77% of millennials say they’re more likely to have a positive opinion of a company that offers texting capabilities (Harris). This is a group of shoppers that is projected to have $1.4 trillion in buying power in 2020 (Accenture).

Supports Multimedia. Pretty much anything you can do on your phone can now be done via text messaging. Sending photos, sharing videos, swapping media — it’s all doable with a text message.

Enhances the Customer Experience. Text messaging has proven to be the single most effective channel for driving customer engagement. A full 97% of companies that connect with customers via a text enabled business line reported that communications were more efficient, customer response rates were higher, and sales conversions increased (AT&T).

Helps Build Brand Reputation. Companies that offer texting services to consumers are viewed more positively than those that don’t. According to One Reach, 62% of surveyed consumers said they would prefer to communicate with businesses via text (One Reach).

Increases Call Center Efficiency. When a call center is set up to interact with consumers via text message, it becomes faster, more cost-effective and generates more revenue. Call center agents can:

• Interact with mobile users more simply.• Reduce call abandonment.• Foster customer engagement and loyalty.• Respond to a larger volume of inquiries.

For such a simple technology, text messaging sure does offer an over-abundance of benefits.

When it comes to choosing the way that you text with your customers, the simplest choice is to text enable your Toll-Free Number. It establishes a single business number that customers can both call and text.

Compared to local numbers, Toll-Free Numbers represent a trusted and recognizable symbol for your brand; one that not only conveys reliability and accessibility, but also inspires trust and confidence that professional support teams are standing by to offer immediate assistance. Toll-Free Numbers are also business numbers, designed to handle the texting volume of a national brand, not simple a local office or a singlesales representative.

Compared to short codes, Toll-Free Numbers are far more cost-effective, pricing out as low as $12 per month versus $500 to $1000 for a short code. And since they are capable of massive volumes of person-to-person communication, Toll-Free Numbers also offer greater versatility when it comes to customer connection compared with short codes, which are only capable of a limited volume of application-to-person communication.

What to Text-Enable: The Reliable, Recognizable, Reachable Toll-Free Number

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Mapping the Relationship

Track the clicks that lead to sales. Toll-Free Numbers can extend attribution from ads to actual sales. When a consumer responds to a click-to-call or click-to-text ad, the resulting conversation leads to extremely valuable information — namely, which ads drove purchases, for what products, at what amount, and even at what lifetime value.

Empower your sales agents with real-time data. Marketers employ specialized software that links a consumer’s click-to-call or click-to-text response with relevant Web history. This equips sales agents with critical information to tailor the conversion and improve conversion rates. This data can also be used to route calls or texts to the optimal agent.

Call AnalyticsListen to the voice of the customer. Whenever a customer calls into a business, they share their preferences and decision-making factors in rich, real-time conversation. Today, businesses are exploring voice recognition technology to drive high-value insights from call center conversations. These solutions convert customer voice conversation into text for analysis, revealing a wealth of insights directly from the customer.

Business AnalyticsMarketing AnalyticsDetermine campaign attribution to refine your strategy. Embedding unique Toll-Free Numbers in different campaigns allows marketers to measure how well the ads performed based on content, channel, geography, demographics and other criteria. You can make on-the-fly adjustments to your strategy and spending to get the most of your budget.

Measure the effectiveness of off-line marketing sources. TV, print and radio campaigns can be much more difficult to track than digital ads. Toll-Free Numbers are an effective analytics tool for off-line channels, especially vanity numbers that are easy to recall.

Phone and text conversations are a precious resource. At the moment of conversation, there is a lot on the line. It’s the moment when your customer is going to make a purchase, where marketers will learn which of their ads are driving that traffic, and when they are going to tell your customer service agents what they actually think about your business.

In today’s complex marketing game, it’s essential to be able to trace your successes back to their source. Attribution is everything. And Toll-Free Numbers can you help map the entire customer journey from ad, to response, to sales, to call center performance, to business intelligence.

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Phone conversations are becoming more critical for consumer-to-business conversations than ever before. And phone calls that happen over Toll-Free Numbers no longer have anything to do with long distance fees. Today, they stand apart as an offer of service and knowledgeto customers.

They provide personalized access to the intelligence hub of a company’s brand. And no matter where the customer is, or if they want to talk over call or text, the Toll-Free promise of service holds strong when customers know they can talk to a real person about their problem or question. The number always signifies that the brand is ready to help.

The Toll-Free invitation to conversation generates more responses, and helps marketers track their campaign success across assets to develop deeper customer insights. And they create a direct line to what are often a brand’s best leads for high-paying and long-term customers.

It’s the number for the speed and convenience of calls and texts. It’s the hotline for immediate service and customized sales. It’s the channel for expertise and dedication on a national scale. In short, TFNs stand for the very best that a business can offer.

The Value of Toll-Free

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Key Takeaways

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There are many ways to keep track of the customer journey. And Toll-Free Numbers allow businesses to turn conversations

into goldmines of data. They’re a welcome mat for prompting as many conversations as possible, and keep track of both off-line and online advertisements. In this way, you can connect conversations to certain ads, and those conversations to certain sales and lifetime customers.

Texting is our preferred way of communicating on our mobile devices, and when you text with your customers, you’re

meeting with them on their terms. Texting is a convenient and friendly way to start and sustain a relationship, particularly with millennials, the emerging generation of consumers. Explore how to text enable your Toll-Free Number — it’s quick, easy, and cheap to add another feature to your advertising.

Phone conversations make magic between you and your customers. They’re a relationship-starter that speaks to the most

serious buyers, since most customers that call have at least $100 to spend. And Toll-Free Numbers are still the national number for business, especially as most new businesses are virtual-only and need a point of human contact. So, ensure your number is front and center (and clickable) for your customers.

Sources Business Insider: “The Rise of M-Commerce: Mobile Shopping Stats & Trends.” | BIA Kesley: “Click-to-Call Influences More Than $1 Trillion in U.S. Consumer Spending.” | Invoca: “Call Intelligence Index.” www.invo-ca.com/call-data/ | Invoca: State of Mobile: “State of the Mobile Experience.” | One Reach: “45 Texting Statistics That Prove Businesses Need to Take SMS Seriously.” | Geo Moment: “Turn Your Clicks into Conver-sations.” | AT&T: “Connecting with text: The shift to landline and toll-free business texting.” | Somos: www.somos.com | Harris Interactive: harris-interactive.com/ | Accenture: “Who Are Millennial Shoppers?”

Choices, Choices Toll-Free Numbers aren’t limited to 800 numbers.Today, there are seven Toll-Free Number codes available to choose from:1

1Dial with Caution: 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, 844, and 833 are not interchangeable. For example, “1-800-276-7898” is

not the same number as “1-888-276-7898” or “1-877-276-7898”. These Toll-Free Numbers are likely to be used by

different subscribers.

How Do I Get a Toll-Free Number?

You can get all the Toll-Free Numbers and resources you need from a certifiedToll-Free Service Provider, also known as a Responsible Organization (Resp Org). Check out: www.somos.com/find-a-toll-free-number

How Do I Text with my Toll-Free Number?

You can text enable your Toll-Free Numbers through a Service Registrar.Check out: www.somos.com/text-enable-toll-free-numbers

Since many landline devices are not capable of sending and receiving text messages, your Service Registrars may offer a Messaging A pplication f or your d esktop or hand-held device. For high volume uses, such as for your call center, an Application Programming Interface (API) is commonly used to integrate messaging into the communications flow.

Somos, Inc. is the Toll-Free neutral administrator for North America.

844.HEY.SOMOS | www.somos.com

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